The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, stated in a report published today, Monday, that there are "reasonable grounds" to assert that Israel has committed numerous acts of "genocide," also pointing to "ethnic cleansing," according to the Palestinian agency "Wafa." Albanese mentioned in her report, which she will present tomorrow, Tuesday, to the Human Rights Council in Geneva: "The nature and overwhelming scale of the Israeli assault on Gaza, and the devastating living conditions it has caused, reveal an intent to physically destroy Palestinians as a group."
In the report titled "The Anatomy of Genocide," the UN rapporteur concluded that there are "reasonable grounds to say that the threshold has been reached indicating that acts of genocide have been committed against Palestinians in Gaza." Albanese enumerated three types of acts of genocide: "killing members of the group, causing serious harm to the physical or mental integrity of members of the group, and deliberately inflicting on the group living conditions calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." These correspond to three of the five acts of genocide included in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
She also confirmed in her report that "images of dead civilians after they were displaced to southern Gaza, coupled with statements from some high-ranking Israeli officials announcing their intent to forcibly relocate Palestinians outside Gaza and replace them with Israeli settlers, logically lead to the conclusion that evacuation orders and security areas were used as tools for implementing genocide leading to ethnic cleansing."
The report continued: "Acts of genocide were approved and executed following statements expressing an intent to commit genocide, made by high-ranking military and government officials." Albanese accused Israel of treating "the entire group" and the infrastructure they utilize as "terrorist" or "supporting terrorism," thus turning everyone into a target or collateral damage.
She reaffirmed in her report that "the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza represents an additional phase in the long-term process of erasure being carried out by settlers."
